I don’t normally get very tech heavy here at Organize IT, but that’s something I want to start rectifying. I’ve been looking for a suitable online storage tool for quite some time now so it seemed like a good idea to cover my experience today in this post. Having dabbled with various offline approaches like flash drives and external hard drives, I now feel like going online is the best way. But what app to use? I wanted something that was low maintenance, with easy retrieval, that didn’t tamper with the files and folders I uploaded in any way. In the end I found Mozy.
I downloaded it at the beginning of the week and have been impressed (at least so far). The free service provides 2GB of space which is decent enough for backing up basic office files and the like (I’m not not yet willing to pay for my storage). What’s made me really like the app though, is the fact it can be setup to automatically backup particular files, either at specific times or when your computer is not in use. I am typing this post on my laptop and right now on my idle desktop the Mozy program has just popped up and is doing its job without any meddling from me.
I’m all for low-bloat, low-hassle programs because I don’t want to have to spend hours tampering with things on my PC. To me that’s wasted time, especially if I can automate the whole process. I’ve only had to play around with Mozy on the day I downloaded and it’s been doing its job with no fuss ever since. However, I know there are many more apps out there so I want your feedback. Have you tried Mozy? What online backup app do you use? Which are your experiences?
June 29, 2007 at 04:16AM
I’ve used it for six months and I love it. It’s transparent and reliable. Recovery was a snap. I evaluated Carbonite but it couldn’t handle backup of external drives. Mozy does.
June 29, 2007 at 08:21AM
Thanks for the comment Mark. I tried Box.net too but the free one won’t let you upload files bigger than 10mb which really limits it.
July 3, 2007 at 05:53PM
I really should give it a try. I’ve been using FolderShare for quite a while but Mozy seems to have more features I could use.
July 4, 2007 at 11:08AM
I have been using Mozy for around a month now on my Mac. I upgraded from the free version to the paid one and the initial upload was a real pain, 30GB! But now I don’t even notice it. I guess I should try the restore just to ensure it is working!
July 4, 2007 at 09:18PM
You should definitely try to do a restore. A few of my users were showing huge discrepancies between what their Mozy clients said they were backing up and what my online admin console showed as actually being backed up. Tech support told me their backups were corrupted and I needed to reinstall the latest client and do a full backup. I still like them but that made me pretty nervous, fortunately I caught it before any harm was done.
July 8, 2007 at 12:25PM
Bloody hell! That is worrying.
The thing that bothers me about Mozy (I’m testing the 2GB version) is that it creates a MIRROR of the drives on your computer. Other than the thirty days version capability (not very useful – I don’t want to feel like I’m on a constant countdown to potential data loss) there is no way to store anything on the Mozy servers that is different to what’s on your computer.
Plus, and I think this is more critical, if you deselect files/folders on your computer, it won’t just not back them up next time, it will delete those files/folders from your backup! That doesn’t sound like a good backup strategy to me. I might want to delete a folder simply because I know I have a backup of it! With Mozy’s logic I lose both the folder I deleted and the backup!
I don’t want to always be careful about what I move or delete. I’d rather have a static backup of what files/folders my computer contained at a specific point in time until I decide to add to or take away from the backup manually.
July 8, 2007 at 05:26PM
Good points Mark. I can see how their approach isn’t exactly flexible but have you considered online storage options rather than Mozy style online backup? For me at least, all I want is to have a secure backup of my files, pure and simple, and it currently does the job admirably for me without any interference on my part. If I deselect files it typically means I don’t need to back them up anymore.
July 17, 2007 at 10:37AM
I am using the free 2GB version and am also impressed with how lightweight and non-intrusive the program is. I am starting to accumulate a ton of digital photos and AVI videos that my Fuji F30 is able to take, but all this convenience takes up lots of room. It looks like I might opt for the paid version, leave the computer uploading for a week or so, and keep a backup this way. Unless anyone else has a better way of backing this all up without too much effort and expense on tape hardware (DVD will not be big enough)?
The other alternative is for my brother and I to purchase a QNAP TS109 each, which is an excellent NAS device able to do block level replication of it’s stored files to another partnering QNAP over the web. This way I get off-site backups without the subscription to Mozy. Just a thought but I am all up for better ideas!
January 15, 2008 at 10:55PM
I use Memopal. Really like it and I think it’s even simpler than Mozy.
September 19, 2008 at 05:43PM
I have used Mozy for a month or so and have to say I like it. Simple. Easy. Works.
September 20, 2008 at 02:30AM
Mark, wow. That is a pretty disturbing discovery (the unchecking issue). I switched from Mozy to another service when I found out that it only mirrored my computer and I couldn’t delete things. I didn’t realize the other issues. Try ElephantDrive (uses Amazon S3), it keeps everything.
September 22, 2008 at 05:53AM
Might I also suggest SpiderOak, which is not only very secure, but also very simple to use. SpiderOak can be used on any platform and can be used with any number of devices for no extra cost. Not to mention (to Mark), files are never deleted when deselected. There is also a free 2GB version to try out.
December 1, 2009 at 12:57PM
My vote would go to iDrive. Their support is first class, they always seem to have someone on live support day or night, and once when they had introduced a bug, the support guy confirmed this and it was fixed the next day.
Highly commendable!